Monday, June 25, 2012

Interview with Historical and Paranormal Romance Author Lily Silver

When did you first realize you wanted
to be a writer?

I first realized I wanted to be a
writer and write romances about twenty years ago. As a mother with
younger children, I needed something to do one summer that didn’t
involve children and as an avid romance reader, I decided to try to
write a romance. Actually, it was just my own romantic fantasy, but
it turned into a 600 plus page book by the time I was finished at the
end of the summer. It was my first manuscript and I wrote it
longhand, on notebook paper.

How long does it take you to write a
book?

My first serious book took years, as I was learning my craft
and doing lots of rewrites. Since then, I’ve learned to write in
under a year, usually about four to six months from beginning to
finished copy.

What would you say is your interesting
writing quirk?

I listen to epic movie soundtracks while writing. It
helps me get into the storyline more as a historical romance writer.
Usually I listen to Last of the Mohicans or Pirates of the Caribbean.

What do you think is the best way of
publishing a book these days?

I have become enthralled with the new
digital publishing platforms offered to Independent authors. It seems
to be a mirror occurrence to the Impressionist Art Movement in the
1880’s. The Impressionist Artists were banned from the Paris Art
Exhibitions as their work was so new and different from what was
traditionally displayed each year in the Salon. So, the artists
banded together and had their own art show, allowing the public to
view their works. It was met with success as the art lovers decided
they liked this new style of painting. In publishing, the same thing
is happening today; the big publishing houses control what is
available to the reading public, but with new digital platforms open
to authors, we can take our works directly to the reading public. I
feel this is an important change in the publishing world, allowing
the reader to decide what is worth reading, not the editors.

Where do you get your information or
ideas for your books?

I am a historian by degree, so I find
inspiration in researching historical settings and events and then
imagining what kinds of conflicts a set of lovers might encounter in
a specific time or place.

When did you write your first book?

Summer of 1992

What do you like to do when you’re
not writing?

I have also studied art and have a minor in art
history. I am a photographer, mostly nature photography and I paint
watercolors, again--nature scenes. I have recently taken up creating
mixed media collage art.

What was one of the most surprising
things you learned in creating your books?

I learned that not all
18th century doctors were quacks. Many physicians of the time were
quite intellectual and used cause and effect methods to study
disease. They discovered such things as Digitalis (foxglove) as a
cure for heart problems, a drug we still use widely today. Another
example is the Small Pox cure that was first discovered in the late
18th century by a doctor who noticed milkmaids developed a ‘pox’
on their hands from milking the cows and then seemed immune to the
small pox outbreaks. This led a doctor to experiment with inoculation
by the turn of the 19th century as a means to stem the tide of Small
Pox, and as we know, it turned out to be highly effective

How many books have you written? Which
is your favorite?

I have written four completed books.
The first two were the ‘training wheels’ versions, meaning, I
learned how to write by doing them but won’t ever publish them. My
two published novels, to date are Dark Hero and Some Enchanted Waltz.
My favorite book is Dark Hero. I fell in love with Donovan, the
mysterious hero in that book.

Can you tell me and your readers
something about your main characters?

In Dark Hero, Donovan Beaumont is a
physician, and also a nobleman. He escaped France after being
tortured for a crime he didn’t commit, became a pirate for a time
and then settled into life as a cane planter in the West Indies. He’s
suffering what we would term today as PTSD, so he tends to hide
behind elaborate disguises and uses them to distance himself from
others. He’s a recluse with a somber, intimidating exterior but
under all his bluster and blow he is really a closet philanthropist.
He collects the broken souls cast off of society and gives them a
sense of purpose, dignity and a reason to go on.

Elizabeth O’Flaherty is the heroine
of Dark Hero. She loved to read Gothic romances as an adolescent
girl. After her mother died, she became the strength of the family,
keeping everything together by taking care of her elderly grandmother
and her younger brother. She can see and speak to ghosts and has the
gift of the seer. She is the opposite of Donovan, as he is all about
logic and science and Elizabeth is more in tune with the mystical
world. Elizabeth is a strong, resilient character but she is also an
adolescent girl of 18, so her reactions to the events in the story
are much different than would be coming from a mature woman in her
thirties or beyond. She has never been able to trust a man due to
past abuse by her alcoholic stepfather and yet she is thrust into
circumstances where she is completely dependent upon Donovan and has
to learn to trust him.

Do you hear from your readers much?
What kinds of things do they say?

Yes, I do hear from readers. The
most recent notes come from readers of “Some Enchanted Waltz” my
new time travel romance. Readers have said that they would like to
see a sequel to that story.

With “Dark Hero”, Readers often
tell me they could not put it down. One reader recently told me she
stayed up way past her bedtime last week trying to finish the story
because she couldn’t wait until the next day to see the storyline
resolved.

What do you think makes a good story?

Characters make the story. A reader must be able to connect with the
heroine; we must like her, if you will, want her for a friend, or
want to be her. Also, I believe in a romance the hero must be
attractive as a character. It’s not enough that he’s handsome, he
must be likeable to the reader--not merely a good looking jerk but
the kind of guy you would want to meet and spend time with. The real
world is full of jerks. Let’s have our romance heroes rise above
that.

What are your favorite book genres in
writing and reading? Why?

Historical romance mostly, for reading. I
do read contemporary romances, too, but those are very few. I also
like reading paranormal romances. As for writing, it is very much
the same. I love the historical romance genre, and that is why I
write it, because I enjoy reading it. I also like to read historical
mysteries. I can’t say if I’d try writing one, however.